The author F. Scott Fitzgerald once remarked: 鈥淭he worst thing in the world is try to sleep and not to.鈥� I鈥檓 sure many readers share Fitzgerald鈥檚 problem. But suppose this common trouble can kill you? That鈥檚 when it鈥檚 worthwhile to find out more about insomnia and why some people suffer from TAT (Tired All the Time).
Prof. Matthew Walker is founder of the University of California Berkeley鈥檚 Center for Human Sleep Science. He鈥檚 also author of the book Why We Sleep. Walker says: 鈥淭he silent sleep loss epidemic is one of the greatest public health challenges we face in the 21st century.鈥�
If you become drowsy while driving, his figures should awaken you. Walker says that one person dies every hour in the U.S. due to fatigue-related mistakes.
For instance, this week more than two million people in the U.S will fall asleep while driving. This translates into 1.2 million accidents caused by drowsiness every year in the U.S. Could driverless cars cause so many accidents?
On first thought, one would expect professional drivers to have a better track record. But Walker says truck drivers are more hazardous because 80 per cent are overweight and 50 per cent clinically obese, increasing the risk of sleep apnea.
The result can be catastrophic. Figures show long-distance truck drivers have a 200 per cent to 500 per cent greater risk of an accident. And when a driver is killed, he or she takes 4.5 other people with them.
There are more than 20 sleep studies that have been following patients for several decades. For those who suffer from insomnia, one single relationship is notable and disturbing, namely, the 鈥渟horter your sleep, the shorter your life.鈥� But being short on sleep is the cause of more than traffic accidents and death. Walker also shows evidence that it鈥檚 related to heart attack, obesity, diabetes, cancer and dementia.
He reports that, in the spring, when we lose one hour of sleep due to daylight saving, there鈥檚 a 24 per cent increase in heart attacks. Then, in the fall, when we gain one hour, there is the reverse, a 21 per cent decrease in coronary attacks.
Walker reports that even our body鈥檚 waste-removal system ramps up activity during sleep. This helps to remove plaque from coronary arteries, with less chance of heart attack. Sleep also decreases amyloid-beta waste products in the brain, decreasing risk of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.
Equally alarming is the fact that Walker鈥檚 research could not find a single psychiatric condition in which the subject鈥檚 sleep was normal.
But how could insomnia affect whether or not one develops cancer? Walker claims that following one night of just four hours sleep, our natural killer cells that attack cancer cells decrease by 75 per cent. Due to this loss of killer cells, researchers have linked numerous types of cancer 鈥� such as bowel, breast and prostate malignancies 鈥� to insomnia.
To drive home the importance of sleep, and possible development of cancer, Walker notes that, since 2007, the World Health Association has labelled shift work as 鈥渁 probable human carcinogen.鈥� Moreover, if you are fighting a battle against cancer, sleep deprivation may cause malignancy to grow more quickly and be more aggressive.
What did not surprise me is that insomnia and drug addiction go hand in hand. Unfortunately, the Walker studies show that children who are chronic poor sleepers are at increased risk of alcohol and drug abuse in their adolescent years. Insomnia has also been associated with bullying.
So how can you improve your sleep so that you鈥檙e not tired all the time? Go to bed and get up at the same time, even if it has been a bad night. Keep the room temperature at about 18 C and wear socks if your feet are cold. One hour before bedtime, turn off the TV, dim the lights and use blackout curtains. Avoid caffeine after 1 p.m. and don鈥檛 go to bed tipsy. Alcohol is sedation, but it is not sleep. Still cannot sleep? Then get up and do something quiet and relaxing until you have an urge to sleep.
But what says Walker if his students snooze during his lectures? He says he鈥檚 flattered 鈥� he knows sleep helps fact-based learning and memory.
